Thomas Evan Nicholas (Niclas y Glais)

Thomas Evan Nicholas (known as Niclas y Glais) (6 October 1879 - 19 April 1971)^[1],was a Welsh language poet, preacher, radical, and champion of the disadvantaged of society.^[1]

Nicholas was born at Blaunwaun Felen in Llanfyrnach parish, north Pembrokeshire. As a teenager he worked two days a week at THE SWAN INN, Eglwyswen (Whitechurch), Pembrokeshire. THE OLD SWAN INN still stands today, but is now a holiday cottage, having closed as a pub in the 1920's. He left Pembrokeshire in 1897 and worked briefly in Treherbert in the Rhondda.

Around the turn of the 20th century, he entered the ministry and he received his three-year training for this at the Gwynfryn Academy (Ysgol y Gwynfryn), Ammanford, under Watcyn Wyn (Watkin Hezekiah Williams) and Gwili John Jenkins.^[1] . Between 1904 and 1914 he was a minister in the village of Glais in the Swansea Valley, where Nicholas Road bears his name ^[2].

He was a prolific poet. The main themes of his poetry were injustice, the battle between the working class and the power of capital, and pacifism. He was incarcerated at Swansea prison for his socialist views and the books of poetry, "Canu'r Carchar" (Prison Songs) and "Llygad y Drws" (referring to the eye-hole in the prison cell door) were written while in prison. He also translated The Internationale into Welsh.

Nicholas was a friend of James Keir Hardie, the founder of the Independent Labour Party and in 1915 he delivered the funeral service at Hardie's funeral. His socialist beliefs led him to oppose Welsh nationalism in his early years, but in his later years he embraced patriotic beliefs. He died at Aberystwyth.

Poetry

• Salmau'r Werin (1909)
• Cerddi Gwerin (1912)
• Cerddi Rhyddid (1914)
• Dros Eich Gwlad (1920)
• Terfysgoedd Daear (1939)
• Llygad y Drws (1940)
• Canu'r Carchar (1942)
• Y Dyn a'r Gaib (1944)
• Dryllio'r Delwau (1941)
• Rwy'n Gweld o Bell (1963)

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} T. E. Nicholas 'Nicholas of Glais' (1879 – 1971) The People's Champion www.ammanfordtown.org.uk, 2003
2. ^ http://www.myglyw.org.uk/index.php?id=4342

External links

• BBC Wales
• National Archives

Persondata
Name	Nicholas, Thomas Evan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	6 October 1879
Place of birth
Date of death	19 April 1971
Place of death